CURTIS WOODHOUSE is ready to explode with excitement. Tonight he makes his debut as a professional boxer and it is giving him the kind of thrill he never came close to experiencing as a Premiership footballer.

“I love fighting,” Woodhouse said. “Rather than get locked up for it, I might as well get paid for it.”

It was more exciting for Woodhouse to be brawling in the streets on a Saturday night than playing in front of 30,000 spectators that afternoon. An England under-21 international who, five years ago, transferred from Sheffield United to Birmingham City for £1 million, Woodhouse has given up security and a high salary to try to live his dream.

That starts tonight when he faces Dean Marcantonio in a welterweight contest over four two-minute rounds on a dinner show in aid of DebRA, the skin disorder charity, at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London’s Park Lane.

Woodhouse, 26, got a taste for boxing when he went with his brother, Karl, to Bridlington Boys Club as a 12-year-old. When his career in football took off, most of his fighting would take place outside pubs.

“If anyone wanted a fight, I was always up for it,” he said. “When you are a footballer someone always wants to have a go. Usually it is one of your own fans telling you you’re crap and they could do better. They would pick on me because I was the small one, and my answer would always be, let’s go outside.

“When I was at Birmingham, I’d often be fighting with [Aston] Villa fans. My team-mates would think I was mad. I never missed a match because I was in trouble, but I did end up in court and got fined.”

But Woodhouse’s first love was always fighting in a ring. When he left Birmingham four years ago, he decided he would retire from the game — a threat he went through with this summer after playing for Grimsby Town in the Coca- Cola League Two play-off final.

“Everyone loves football, but I never did,” he said. “It was never something that fulfilled me. I would never want to go to training, even before a big match — now I train four times a day and love every minute. Football was just like a job that I didn’t like.”

He has been training under Gary De Roux, the former British featherweight champion, and has lost 2st to get down to his fighting weight — a sign of how hard boxers train, compared with footballers.

“I never boxed as an amateur, but I used to travel all over to train and spar, although I’d have to do it in secret,” he said. “I always had to blag my way in. I said I’d boxed as an amateur and had a fight coming up. After a couple of weeks, my cover was usually blown so I’d have to move on.

“A few times at Sheffield United, Neil Warnock [the manager] would drag me in and say ‘I hear you’ve been boxing’. I’d be standing there with a big black eye and a fat lip and deny it.”

Woodhouse does have hopes of making it big in his new sport but, for the moment, he merely wants to box as often as he can to gain experience. “I’m not going to start calling out Floyd Mayweather,” he said. His former colleagues have not been short of advice. “A few have said I should get the bottoms of my boots sponsored,” he said. “They think I’m mad, but even if it doesn’t work out, I’ll never go back to football. This makes me feel like I’m 16 again with my whole life ahead of me.”

TELEVISION: Live on ITV4 from 9.30pm.

A BOUT TURN

The successes

Rocky Marciano: As a baseball player he had a professional contract with the Chicago Cubs. He gave it up and became the only undefeated world heavyweight champion in history

Anthony Mundine: Rated the world’s top rugby league player, the Australian became WBA super-middleweight champion

The failures

Ed “too tall” Jones: Defensive end for the Dallas Cowboys, he took up boxing in 1979 proclaiming he would be world heavyweight champion. After six bouts, he returned to the Cowboys

Tonya Harding: Disgraced Olympic figure skater tried to make a buck after competing in celebrity boxing. Won three, lost three but lacked talent

RON LEWIS

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